Some councils have quite onerous development controls which can add cost on terms of processing effort. New estates have specific building and siting requirements and due to familiarity it is easy for the builders to comply with estate / council requirements. Designs often go through the estate developers first and this means that there is better chance few changes will be needed to submitted plans at council DA stage.

Fewer new builds also occur in the existing suburbs. That means their supervisors generally have to travel out of their way to manage your build. This time would add up over the duration of your build.

Not really trying to defend the builders but the additional costs would be a reality.

Hi Crazyk, We are going to built in Strathfield and Wisdom has charged 10k for this and their argument is most of the tradies live in the west and they have to travel day in day out!!!

Assuming traddies are paid for travel there might be something in that but not sure if its the case. Maybe divide the build contract time by $10000. EG 40week build=200 working days \$10000= $50 a day. Might give a better idea how reasonable it is.